I woke up this morning around 6:20 am to the sound of my husband screaming my name. I got out of bed and found him lying on the bathroom floor on his stomach. Asked him what's wrong and if he wanted me to call 911. Intense pain in the abdomen, and yes.

After they said they were on their way, I set about getting us ready to go. First I made sure our cat had food and water and locked her in the laundry room where all of that is kept. Then I unlocked the front door. Got my clothes on, then helped him get his on, since he felt able to move. The EMTs arrived and did their thing. I rode in the front seat of the ambulance. The EMT in the back gave him an IV of morphine.

In the hospital room, the doctor examined him. They ruled out appendicitis and started doing tests. I walked the mile or so from the ER to where I work and got a ride home from an office mate to take my anti-depressant and ibuprofen for my whiplash from a recent car accident. I got a text from him that it is probably kidney stones.

Went back to campus and checked if anyone had signed up for my office hours, but no one had. He texted me maybe half an hour later that he was ready to be picked up, so I got him. We went to Target to fill his prescription and buy a birthday cake for tonight.

He is pretty much the sweetest guy and told me he was really bummed out because he didn't get to put his birthday surprise for me in place, which was making me omelettes for breakfast and getting our apartment spotless. I told him it's not his fault and I'm just glad he's relatively okay. When I saw him on the bathroom floor I was so afraid I might lose him.

He doesn't have insurance because it would cost us around $400 a month to put him on mine and we're already living basically paycheck to paycheck as is, since he's only been able to find part-time employment. I encouraged him to look for insurance to start in January, but he wanted to keep looking for full-time work and then if he couldn't find any by March, get a plan from the exchange. Luckily this hospital automatically reduces the bill of anyone who doesn't have insurance by 50% as long as it's paid on time and will consider even more of a discount based on our income. We'll be fine financially, if uncomfortable, because we are fortunate to have families that are in a position to help us. Anyway... just wanted to get this out. Most of all, I feel very fortunate that I didn't lose him.